I’ve mentioned here and there that when I dove headlong into book blog tours back in the fall I made the mistake of a) selecting the “any date is fine” option for everything, even if I was volunteering to review, and b) not recording my tour reviews, my NetGalley ARCs, and my other-source review commitments all in the same place. As a result I had as many as 4 full-length novels scheduled for review during the same week sometimes. It was insane! My NetGalley TBR got embarassingly long, backlist review titles I eagerly grabbed from Voracious Readers Only back in the summer slid onto the back burner, and I stopped reading the books I bought for myself. I started working to streamline my schedule around the end of November, and starting in March my schedule should finally start to open up and not look like last fall.
I can finally read a few things purely for pleasure again!
I already planned weeks ago to leave time in April to start a re-read of the Earthsea Cycle books, and that got me thinking. What else is high priority on my re-read list?
I hope you’ll enjoy exploring my list, and I’d love to know which ones you’ve read before and what’s on your list.
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A Wizard of Earthsea
Earthsea Cycle Book One
by Ursula K. Le Guin
First Published 1968
Genre: Fantasy
Page Count: 183
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Ged, the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, was called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth.
Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death’s threshold to restore the balance.
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I plan to re-read all six books in the series, and then if I’m still in the mood and still have time I’ll also toss in Gifts. I’ve been thinking of that one as a stand-alone, but apparently it’s book one of its own trilogy that I now really need to investigate!
The idea here is I’ll finally put out proper reviews for this series and then I’ll talk about the series as a whole and its past adaptations. I’m going to admit right now that the early 2000s SciFi Channel mini series adaptation is a guilty pleasure of mine. It’s terribly untrue to the source material and despite a respectable cast of actors it turned out terribly C-rate in quality, but it has its own “bad movie” charm. I’ll throw in a re-watch of that before I’m done so my thoughts on it are fresh.
As I mentioned way up at the top of this post, I’ve set aside time to start this venture in April, but I completely expect to be working on it into May and perhaps June depending on what else I take on for reviews this spring.
The Night Circus
by Erin Morgenstern
Genre: Literary Fiction, Fantasy
Page Count: 391
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The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.
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This is my all-time absolute favourite stand-alone novel ever, I’ve read it so many times, and I really owe it a proper review. I’ve got a Libby hold on the audiobook in the “deliver later” holding pattern waiting for some time in my audiobook schedule, and this will be my first listen to the audiobook version. I hope it holds up to my love of the print book! (Check out my review of Erin Morgenstern’s second book: The Starless Sea)
The Hob’s Bargain
by Patricia Briggs
Published 1 March 2001
Ace Books
Genre: Fantasy
Page Count: 281
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Beauty and The Beast
Hated and feared, magic was banished from the land. But now, freed from the spells of the wicked bloodmages, magic—both good and evil—returns. And Aren of Fallbrook feels her own power of sight strengthen and grow…
Overcome by visions of mayhem and murder, Aren vows to save her village from the ruthless raiders who have descended upon it—and killed her family. With the return of wildlings to the hills and forests, she strikes a bargain with the Hob, a magical, human-like creature imbued with the power of the mountains. But the Hob is the last of his kind. And he will exact a heavy price to defend the village—a price Aren herself must pay…
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The Hob’s Bargain was the first Patricia Briggs book I ever stumbled upon and the reason I sought out and read so many of her other books. I’d like to re-read this one, give it a proper review, and then revisit her Sianim series.
The Name of the Wind
King Killer Chronicles Book One
by Patrick Rothfuss
Published 27 March 2007
Penguin Group DAW
Genre: High Fantasy
Page Count: 662
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Told in Kvothe’s own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen.
The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.
A high-action story written with a poet’s hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.
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Now that Rothfuss is being more honest and open about his progress (and nicer to his fans) and also teasing further books in the world that he already has plans for, I feel like it’ll soon be time to give The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear another read through, both so I can be completely refreshed on what happened and so I can (you guessed it) write some proper reviews. Remember, I only started reviewing the books I read last year. Before that point I only dropped a star rating on Goodreads and peaced out.
Wicked
The Wicked Years Book One
by Gregory Maguire
Published 29 September 1995
William Morrow
Genre: Fantasy
Page Count: 406
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When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?
Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.
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No particular reason on this one, I’ve just been longing to re-experience this series! I also have After Alice on my physical books TBR, and re-reading this series would really get me in the mood to bump that up the priority queue as well.
Reserved for the Cat
Elemental Masters Book Five
by Mercedes Lackey
Published 30 October 2007
DAW
Genre: Fantasy
Page Count: 328
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In 1910, in an alternate London, a penniless young dancer is visited by a cat who communicates with her mind to mind. Though she is certain she must be going mad, she is desperate enough to follow the cat’s advice and impersonates a famous Russian ballerina. The cat, it turns out, is actually an Elemental Earth Spirit, and leads her to minor stardom.
Meanwhile, the real Russian ballerina has fallen victim to an evil troll who takes over her body and kills her patrons, drinking their life essences in order to strengthen his powers. And soon, the troll focuses his dark attentions on the young dancer…
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In this case I’m actually not referring to the entire series, I’m just talking about this one. I love the whole series, if I were in need of more reading material I absolutely would re-read the whole series, and some day I will anyway so I can (say it with me) write proper reviews. This time though, I just want to re-experience my favourite instalment in the series, one of my favourite fantasy books in general, and the reason I got into Lackey’s books.
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Okay, so… fantasy. It’s a year of fantasy apparently! Honourable mentions from other genres that I will re-read at some point:
- To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini (Science Fiction)
- Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice series by Jude Watson (MG Science Fiction)
- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (MG Historical Fiction)
- Becoming Human by Amy Michelle Carpenter (YA Science Fiction)
- The Book of Stanley by Todd Babiak (Literary Fiction)
- Oracle Night by Paul Auster (Literary Fiction, Magical Realism)
- The Blue Light Project by Timothy Taylor (Literary Fiction)
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What a great list! I’ve had “Name of the Wind” on my re-read list ever since the author released his 2nd & I realized I needed to go back & remember what happened in Book 1. But I want to re-read early Patricia Briggs (her recent Mercedes book was a bit of a letdown & I wish she’d go back to writing stand-alones/trilogies). I forgot about The Hobb’s Bargain, so thanks for the reminder — adding to my list also!
Yeah, I wish she’d return to her earlier stuff with the shorter series groupings too! I also feel like a lot of her newer stuff is the same sort of shifter romance fantasy everyone else is writing, but her older stuff had something uniquely special about it.
Great list! The Night Circus seems interesting. I can hardly find time to read with a lot of hobbies going on! I mean, I still read, but it just takes me a long time to finish a book. How many books are you reading in a month?
Tough question, actually! Lol. I occasionally binge picture books on NetGalley just to build a cushion back into my feedback ratio, which skews my Goodreads number high. Right now it says I’ve read 46 books in 2021 and we’re on day 48, but I’m definitely not getting through novels as fast as that implies without context. I can do 100-200 pages of no-skim reading in a day if that’s what I’m doing with my day.